REMARK.--Such questions usually commence with pronouns or adverbs; as, how, what, who, whence, where, &c.

EXAMPLES.

1. How many books did he purchase`?

2. Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

3. What see you, that you frown so heavily to-day`?
4. Who is here so base that he would be a bondman`?
5. But where is the iron-bound prisoner? Where`?
6. Ah! what is that flame which now bursts on his eye`?
7. Whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire`,
This longing after immortality?

EXCEPTION.-When questions, usually requiring the falling inflection, are emphatic or repeated, they take the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Where did you say he had gone"?

2. To whom did you say the blame was to be imputed"?

3. What is he? A knave. What is he? A knave, I say.

RISING INFLECTION.

RULE IV. In the introductory part of a sentence, where the sense is dependent or incomplete, the rising inflection is generally used.

REMARK.-Wherever there is a pause of any kind while the sense is incomplete, unless the falling inflection is required. by emphasis or some other principle, the rising inflection is almost invariably used. It is generally very slight, requiring an acute and educated ear to discern it, and it is difficult to teach pupils to distinguish it, though they constantly use it. It is only necessary to read a sentence in a strict monotone and then in the usual manner, to be convinced of this.

EXAMPLES.

1. Nature being exhausted, he quietly resigned himself to his fate.

2. As the whirlwind passeth, so the wicked are no more. 3. A chieftain to the Highlands bound",

Cries, Boatman, do not tarry.

4. As he spoke without fear of consequences, so his actions were marked with the most unbending resolution.

5. Speaking in the open air, at the top of the voice, is an admirable exercise.

6. If then, his Providence, out of our evil, seek to bring forth good, our labor must be to prevent that end.

7. He, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,

And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. REMARK.-Words used for the person or thing addressed, are included in this rule.

8. Brother, give me thy hand; and, gentle Warwick ́,

Let me embrace thee in my weary arms.

9. Oh Lancaster ́, I fear thy overthrow.

10. Ye crags and peaks ́, I'm with you once again.

EXCEPTION 1.-Relative emphasis often reverses this and the first rule, because emphasis is here expressed in part by changing the usual inflections.

EXAMPLES.

1. If you care not for your property, you surely value your life.

2. If you will not labor for your own advancement, you should regard that of your children'.

3. It is your place to obey, not to command".

4. Though by that course he should not destroy his reputation, he will lose all self-respect.

EXCEPTION 2.-The names of persons addressed in a formal speech, or when used emphatically, have the falling inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Romans, countrymen, and lovers, hear me for my cause, &c. 2. Gentlemen of the jury, I solicit your attention, &c.

3. Oh Hubert, Hubert, save me from these men.

RULE V.-Negative sentences and members of sentences usually require the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. It is not by starts of application that eminence can be

attained".

2. It was not an eclipse that caused the darkness at the crucifixion of our Lord": for the sun and moon were not relatively in a position to produce an eclipse.

3. They are not fighting: do not disturb them: this man is not expiring with agony: that man is not dead: they are only pausing.

4. My Lord, we could not have had such designs.

5. It is not sufficient that you wish to be useful; you must nurse those wishes into action.

6. It is not for your silver bright,

But for your winsome lady.

7. You are not left alone to climb the steep ascent: God is with you, who never suffers the spirit that rests on him to fail.

EXCEPTION 1.-Emphasis may reverse this rule

EXAMPLE.

We repeat it, we do not desire to produce discord; we do not wish to kindle the flames of a civil war.

EXCEPTION 2.-General propositions generally have the falling inflection.

EXAMPLE.

God is not the author of sin. Thou shalt not kill`.

RULE VI.—When a sentence closes with the falling inflection, the rising inflection, for the sake of harmony, often precedes it.

EXAMPLES.

1. He fought the Scythian in his cave, and the unconquered 'Arab fled before him.

2. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind ́, live in peace.

3. They have forgotten their distresses; every sorrow is hushed; and every pang extinguished`.

EXCEPTION.-Emphasis may reverse this rule.

EXAMPLES.

1. Eloquence is action`; noble`, sublime`, god-like action`. 2. If you care not for your life, respect your honor`.

RULE VII.—Interrogative sentences and members of

sentences, which can be answered by yes or no, generally require the rising inflection.

REMARK.-Such sentences most commonly commence with verbs.

EXAMPLES.

1. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation?

2. Do we mean to submit"?

3. Does the gentleman suppose it is in his power, to exhibit in Carolina a name so bright as to produce envy in my bosom?

4. If it be admitted, that strict integrity is not the shortest way to success, is it not the surest, the happiest, the best??

5. Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens, To wash this crimson hand as white as snow?

EXCEPTION.-Emphasis may reverse this rule.

EXAMPLES.

1. Can you be so blind to your interest? Will you rush headlong to destruction?

2. I ask again, is there no hope of reconciliation? Must we abandon all our fond anticipations?

3. Will you deny it? Will you deny` it?

4. Am I Dromio"? Am I your man"? Am I myself`?

RULE VIII.-Interrogative exclamations, and words repeated as a kind of echo to the thought, require the rising inflection.

EXAMPLES.

1. Where grows"? Where grows it not`?

2. What! Might Rome have been taken? Rome taken when I was consul?

3. Banished from Rome! Tried and convicted traitor!

4. Prince Henry. What's the matter?

Falstaff. What's the matter?

a thousand pounds this morning.

Here be four of us have taken

Prince H. Where is it, Jack, where is it?

Fals. Where is it? Taken from us, it is.

5. Ha! laughest thou, Lochiel, my vision to scorn?

6. And this fellow calls himself a painter. A painter! He is not fit to daub the sign of a paltry ale-house.

7. And this man is called a statesman. A statesman! Why, he never invented a decent humbug.

8. Six moons are his, by Herschel shown;

Herschel, of modern times the boast.

9. I can not say, sir, which of these motives influence the advocates of the bill before us; a bill', in which such cruelties are proposed as are yet unknown among the most savage nations.

10. The man who was not only pardoned, but distinguished by you with the highest honors, is charged with an intention to kill you in your own house: an intention, of which, unless you imagine that he is utterly deprived of reason, you can not suspect him.

RISING AND FALLING INFLECTIONS.

RULE IX.-Words and members of a sentence expressing antithesis or contrast require opposite inflections.

EXAMPLES.

1. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption`. 2. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. 3. By honor and dishonor; by evil report and good report; as deceivers and yet true`.

4. What they know by reading', I know by experience.

5. I could honor thy courage, but I detest thy crimes.

6. They slight my mean birth ́, I despise their mean characters`. 7. It is easier to forgive the weak`, who have injured us ́, than the powerful whom we have injured.

8. When we fail, our pride supports us, when we succeed, it betrays us.

9. Homer was the greater genius, Virgil the better artist. 10. The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition`. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid ́; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle. Dryden's page is a natural field, rising into inequalities, varied by exuberant vegetation'; Pope's is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and leveled by the roller.

11. If the flights of Dryden are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If the blaze of Dryden's fire is brighter, the heat of Pope's is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it.